Phuket needs to address the smell of cannabis, lax motorbike rental regulations and security concerns.
According to local officials, these problems are driving tourists away.
The three problems that tarnish Phuket's image
A plane flies over tourists on a beach in Phuket.
Phuket Provincial Administrative Organization Chairman Rawat Areerob raised these concerns with provincial Governor Sophon Suwannarat at a meeting on Friday, August 8.
Mr Rawat said local tour operators raised three main issues regarding tourism in Phuket during a recent Thai tourism promotion tour in Australia:
- The smell of cannabis
- Improper rental of motorcycles
- The lack of direct flights between Australia and Phuket
The lingering smell of cannabis is an irritant for visitors to Phuket
Shopkeepers wait for customers at a cannabis store in Phuket. Photo: Reuters
The smell of cannabis is pervasive in Phuket, and the Ministry of Public Health has not proposed a clear plan to address the problem, Rawat said.
Phuket has over 1,640 cannabis shops, but with no zoning laws or enforcement authority, only public consumption can be punished under cleanliness regulations.
Mr. Sophon said the Ministry of Public Health was considering reclassifying cannabis as a narcotic for medical use only.
See: Thailand: New rules plunge cannabis industry into chaos
Road safety and air links: two obstacles to tourism in Phuket
A tourist rides without a helmet on the rear wheel of his motorbike on a road in Phuket on Sunday, April 27, 2025. Photo: Chalong Police
Regarding motorbike rentals, Rawat said foreign visitors rent motorbikes without knowing how to ride them safely, treating Phuket's roads as a training ground.
See: Thailand: Police to crack down on motorcyclists without helmets
He added that Australian tourists clearly preferred direct flights to Phuket.
An image to protect among Chinese tourists
Foreign tourists enjoy their vacation on Kamala Beach during the off-season. Photo: Molpasorn Shoowong/Bangkok Post
Mr. Rawat also expressed concern about Phuket's image in China.
He urged the media to distinguish between criminal elements such as "call center" scams and legitimate Chinese tourists.
"If we put all Chinese visitors in the 'grey' category, they will simply choose to go to Singapore or Japan," he warned.
See: Thailand: Tourism collapses as Chinese visitors fall
See also:
Mass tourism in Thailand: Phuket island is overflowing with garbage
Phuket: Cameras to combat crimes committed by foreigners
Two tourists knocked out in Phuket for attacking a Thai woman
Phuket to become the leader in southern Thailand tourism by early 2025
Thailand: Daily fights between tourists on a Phuket street
Shock in Thailand: Tourist exposes himself naked in a cannabis shop in Phuket
Source: Bangkok Post
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2 comments
To the taxi mafia too, and various scams.
Of the three main points of the problems raised in this article and linked to tourism in Phuket, two points relate directly to the skills and (or lack of) work carried out on the ground by local authorities, preventive controls by administrations and the control and repression work of police forces.
In these 3 cases of interventions, it appears that the offices, human resources and high-ranking officials in the Administration or among the police responsible for organizing the security of the inhabitants and tourists of the island of Phuket, do not or no longer assume the increased level of security compared to the past and necessary at the present time so that Phuket remains a haven of peace and social and tourist tranquility.
Whose or what's to blame?
Incompetence on the part of some and paid appointments to certain high positions on the part of others, lack of training, particularly of police officers, for certain tasks of forceful intervention in the field of repeated and unpunished crimes, absence of a police presence and preventive patrols on the ground, day and night, lack of personnel?
Or even, laxity of justice, attempts at individual corruption or of certain civil and police authorities towards wealthy people???
I do not know enough about the local "customs and traditions" in the areas of administration and management of the island to answer these questions, but one fact is certain:
There are gaps, laxity and failings on the part of the island's political leaders in the management of its tourist potential so that they can increase its credibility in terms of the quality of reception and existing and future infrastructure, as well as repressive standards in terms of urban security and socially acceptable limits from which the police are supposed to apply "zero" tolerance regarding everyday crimes by systematically applying the decrees and laws in force to the letter, which is clearly not the case at present...
Without this, the situation will only deteriorate month after month and become less and less manageable as crime takes over social order, driving away international tourists, as is currently the case in Pattaya...
So the officials involved have only one thing left to do: sit down around a table, roll up their sleeves, make decisions that prove essential and have them implemented without delay by the police forces and sworn administrative agents.
As usual, ladies and gentlemen... you have to get your ass out of your armchair and get your ass moving by going to the known and recognized crime spots to direct the maneuver and make the immediate decisions on the spot that the situation requires...